Day 2

Ciao! I've just finished my second day at IES and I am absolutely loving it. In honor of today's schedule, which was orientation, and I figured I should clarify I little more about how my blog will be laid out. As some of you know, I am a bit of a photo bug, so I figure I'll post photos and then tell you about activities, food, and all the rest the Milano has to offer. 

So, Andiamo!

The two pictures above are certainly not the post perfect, but between the two photos you can see that I was in front of the Duomo, or Milan Cathedral. Yesterday we were walking around quite a bit, and when we walked to our aperativo (more on that below), I snapped these selfies in front of the Duomo. I'll definitely get some better photos, and a better look around, at another point in time. Still, I'm in Milano and I simply had to post a pic of the Duomo ASAP =D

I said I would talk about the aperativo, and now I will. An aperativo is kinda of a type of meal at a bar. You get a drink and then food with it. Normally it's around 6 or 7 pm and then people will go to drinks or a small meal afterward. In our case, we went to a local area called "The Columns" which has many bars and is popular with young adults. But anyways, I digress! The picture above is of a Spritz, which is a drink with Aperol and something else, normally either chardonnay (it's okay...) or prosecco (yum!). The one above has soda and prosecco. It was my first legal alcoholic beverage, which was very nice. Mom? I'll definitely have to get someone to make a "Mom's Happy Place", but these do not suck!

For those of you who can't tell, this is a cappuccino.It's a drink that we all know from Starbucks, but this was much better. Also, Italians only have Cappuccino in the morning because it's so full of milk and calories. Still, delicious! Another thing I discovered? The sense of time is very different here. We were running late to a meeting this morning, but our CA (Community Assistant) still stopped with us to get coffee. At home, we would never stop for a drink when running late, so it's a bit different. Even so, it's nice for a city that is so busy to be relaxed in such a small way!

Last but not least, here is a picture of me in the IES Center here in Milano. We were there for a while, both during orientations, and then when waiting to have our 1-on-1 meetings. Shortly before my meeting my luggage finally arrived, which was wonderful =D For those of you not aware of that little bit of travel fun, my luggage was left behind when I had to change flights in Moscow.  On Tuesday, I was told that the bag would arrive by Saturday. I had been worried that it wouldn't arrive before tomorrow night when I will need a swim suit, so I am so blessed that it came in so quickly. Anyways, the session went well and I got my schedule. In addition, I had my session extremely early. They had it scheduled so that each student had 15 minutes, but no one took that long. Instead, I waited around and went over an hour before my scheduled time, something that made both myself and my advisor very happy. 

I look forward to even more adventures in Milan, and I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.

Ciao!